Robyn Kacperski, a Selkirk-raised graphic artist now based in Winnipeg, holds up a rendering of her winning design for the Selkirk water tower. (HANDOUT)
The City of Selkirk has halted a project to repaint its iconic water tower as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Dan McDermid, Selkirk’s director of operations, says the city hoped to have the work begin by the end of June.
“Our priorities obviously shifted during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep providing the essential services our citizens needed,” McDermid said. “That pushed back our decision-making process farther than we originally planned.”
Carlson Commercial and Industrial Services had been hired to strip and repaint the water tower.
City officials say the new timeline will see the project underway for April 2021.
The 135-foot water tower will need to first be stripped in an environmentally controlled space to remove layers of paint. Rain, temperature and wind can all play into the factors the city and its contractors will be facing.
“Now that there’s more breathing room for both ourselves and the contractor, we have more confidence the end product will be done without any hiccoughs and on budget,” added McDermid.
The city is still waiting to hear if the mural portion at the base is possible to do next year as well. The request for proposal for that project will be released sometime in the near future.
